With a new crew member in tow, the Straw Hat’s are at it again, with tons of adventure and pirate mayhem in One Piece Collection No. 6. After leaving Alabasta, Luffy and Co. reminisce on past times, travel to a bunch of islands and see all kinds of new wonders. They stumble upon a pirate ship that falls out of the sky and into the ocean, which they excavate in order to find treasure or anything else worthwhile. They don’t find a single gold coin or any sort of valuable, except for a map that shows a floating island in the sky called Skypiea. After finding out all that they can about the mysterious island, the Straw Hats decide to place their hopes and dreams into finding the fabled island and go on another grand adventure. With this collection, One Piece still manages to captivate and invigorate a typical genre of anime and make it some of the most fun I’ve had in a long time.

Half of One Piece Collection No. 6 contains filler stories that were made for the TV show and the first few episodes of the “Skypiea” arc from the original manga. While most filler is indeed just an excuse to meander until its time to get to more story, the beginning of this set does a great job at exploring each of the Straw Hats and how far they’ve come. Once we get into the the actual Skypiea arc, the show widens the scope of the world, explore its various inhabitants, both good and bad, as well as showcase One Piece‘s imagination.

From all of the ingenious devices, like wavers and dials, to the sky fish and sky foxes, this batch of episodes is bursting at the seems with clever things and inhabitants that make it feel fresh and alive. Another great inclusion is looming threat of both pirates and marines that hold a weight to them, unlike any villains that we’ve seen up until this point. While Crocodile was one of the best villains in One Piece, the inclusion of major figures of the World Government, Black Beard and other various characters certainly sets the stage for the epic things to come and major hurdles that the Straw Hats will face in the near future.

The DVD’s are pretty much the same as the previous collections, with a few trailers, some commentary on a few episodes and both English and Japanese language tracks. While its certainly a huge commitment and very much long form storytelling, One Piece always manages to stay really funny, epic in scope and all around good time. It consistently delivers the goods and always manages to leave one wanting more from its colorful characters, incredible world and grand adventures that await within. Highly Recommended!

is a graduate from Columbia College Chicago with a degree in Audio for Visual Media. He works as a freelance location sound mixer, boom operator, sound designer, and writer in his native Chicago. He's an avid collector of films, comics, and anime.